Netflix data paints U.S. as land of broadband mediocrity

We Americans like to think of ourselves as No. 1 at everything but there’s at least one area where multiple studies have shown that we’re lagging far behind: In broadband speeds. The newest numbers from Netflix once again paint the United States as a land of mediocrity when it comes to broadband service, as the average connection speed for American Netflix users trails far behind the average connection speed for European users in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and all of Scandinavia. With an average connection speed of just 1.9Mbps, U.S. Netflix users still fare better than their counterparts in Ireland (1.79Mbps average connection) and Mexico (1.77Mbps average connection). Netflix regularly releases data on which ISPs deliver the fastest speeds as a way of letting its users know which of their options are best for video streaming.